Ridley's Last Stand: introduction

Rain could be heard falling outside.

"Yes..." Keaton sighed, "I was made aware of that incident. Hardy actually did not have any clearance to even touch down on the planet. As for what Max did, I don't really care. That's your guys's business... and I think We all know what happened after that, so... that brings us up to speed, Samus."

Samus sighed, and looked off to the side. "So... now what?"

"Well..." Keaton spoke, hands rested in his lap, "I think a further psychological evalutation may be in order, but it sounds like the prime factor in your story so far is pretty obvious. Anyone could see it, even without knowing all these events.."

"Yeah..", Samus sighed. "If there's one thing people could tell about us, it was that."

Keaton thought for a moment, like there was something he was forgetting. Then, he looked at Samus once more. "Now... there's an official Federation report on what happened next, but I have not heard it from you, and frankly, as we all know, that ended with some interesting effects." Keaton nervously eyed a small ice pistol in his drawer, as he spoke.

"What are you saying?" Samus responded, slightly defensive. "What happened to me after all that had something to do with BSL?"

Keaton pretended not to be paying the drawer any attention. "W-well, hear me out here. I'm just *saying* that maybe after the erm... operation.. maybe it effected your judgement."

Samus stood up. "I beg your pardon?? THIS organization was attempting to breed their own SA-X!! It's not a system of order and stability any more, it's an army!! They've turned it into a bureaucratic army under YOUR nose, Keaton!!"

At this point, Keaton quickly produced the ice pistol and pointed it at Samus. "Samus Aran, I strongly suggest you calm yourself! Believe me, I don't want to be the one to incapacitate you, but one way or another we need to discuss what happened on BSL and get it over with.

Samus gasped, horrified to see her old friend pointing a weapon at her.. "Keaton... I'm.. ...I'm sorry.. It's just.. I didn't want them to use the suit for evil purposes... ...producing an SA-X, even if everything was successful, and it could be tamed... it's just the Federation turning into a conquering, war-mongering force..."

"Or.." Keaton finished, "It would have been the greatest help you ever had."

Samus stared surprised, again. "What!?"

Keaton shook his head. "Fighting Space Pirates is not an easy task when you're not Samus. Our hope was that by emulating you and your armored suit, maybe we wouldn't have to rely on you so much... ...now, we can't rely on you at all..."

Samus sat down, arms crossed. "Is that what she told you?"

Keaton threw his hands up. "What?? I don't understand whatever happened between you and Damara. She used to be this sweet little girl I remember you saving from pirates, and now you're at each other's throats..."

Samus did not reserve her language. "She turned into a war-mongering bitch. plain and simple."

Keaton stared at Samus for several moments, before continuing. "Let's not go down that same road then, you and I. Just give me your account of these last few events, and I'll drop all charges, power suit yours."

"Ceres Labs, is anyone there??" Again, nothing but static. The situation was beginning to look pretty grim, as Samus's worst fears were beginning to surface. If that Metroid broke loose, it'd bring hell with it.

Moments later, Samus was already descending the elevator into Ceres laboratory, expecting the worst. Surprisingly, all was quiet. As she walked down the stairs, she found a few claw marks, but no blood. Opening the door, she walked into a dark room full of generators and continued to the far end.

...Then, she saw them. Bodies. everywhere. Some were slumped over in chairs, throats slit open. One poor woman had her stomach slashed, and her intestines spilled out. Also, a broken pair of glasses was on the floor, no telling who it belonged to. Most importantly, however, the Metroid hatchling was missing from its stasis tube.

"That's weird... It looks like the Metroid got loose, but these don't look like casualties of one..." Samus thought to herself... then she heard a scared Metroid cry coming from the far room.

Samus opened the door to find the hatchling, still in its tank, sitting on the ground. "Hey..." Samus whispered to the frightened Metroid, holding the tank in her arms. "Momma's here... it's okay... let's get out of here, huh?", she spoke, clutching the tank and heading for the exit... when she suddenly felt a terrible feeling that they were not alone.

"Hello, Samus." Ridley coldly whispered. "Come for your "baby"?"

Samus instinctively moved in to attack Ridley, while trying to protect her child. "Dammit, dammit, dammit..." she thought to herself. She should have known that Ridley would be revived and attempt something like this, but what was she to have done with the Metroid? She couldn't just destroy the creature, especially after it imprinted on her...

"Ridley, wait..." Samus shouted, cannon pointed nervously at the dragon. "Please, just leave us alone. Don't take this one..."

Ridley grinned. "What's this? Samus has a soft spot for this itty-bitty Metroid. Hey, that's alright! I happen to like people with soft spots."

Samus lowered her guard a bit in confusion.

"I like the squishy sound they make when I bore my tail through them!!" He roared as he aimed straight at Samus's stomach, knocking her to the wall, and dislodging the infant from her arms.

"Don't worry, "Mama"", Ridley smiled. "I'll take good care of this Metroid... just like I took good care of "Your" Mama!! Hahahahaha!!!" And he began to fly away.

Samus's left hand clenched into a metal fist, and her now crimson retinas produced some bloodshot, black veins, as an unhealthy look of primal terror swept across her face, and green veins began to creep across her suit.

"d..d.d don't.. DON'T.. DON'T TOUCH MY CHILD!!!"

Samus screamed as loud as she could, her entire suit grotesquely mutating and fusing with her to form a hideous creature, larger than Ridley.

Ridley stared at Samus, and accidentally dropped the hatchling. "...I should go."

"RRHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHLLLL!!!!" Samus grabbed Ridley by the talon and slammed him into the floor. Then, with her massive fist, she began pounding on his back, sending shockwaves across the floor, and shaking the entire room. A small part of Samus was still rationally aware of what was going on, but currently being drowned out by this primal instinct, a great fear of what she had just become, and how it happened.

When Samus finally calmed down, she realized that both Ridley and the hatchling were now literally as flat as pancakes. A certain sense of pity and horror swept over her, as she wept for both of them.

Chapter 1: frontier dispute

One thing terrified pirates more than anything, and everyone knew what that was...

...Yet still, the sight of Samus was just scarce enough that most of them would choose a close second. Right now, our old friend Curly was trembling as he approached that.

"He's probably expecting we failed...", Curly thought to himself. "Why not? Ever since Samus showed up, we've been unable to stay a step above her", he sighed as he opened the door to the cockpit. "Well... no sense worrying about it now..."

Curly stepped into the quiet room, the hum of machines gently purring amidst him. A soft red light illuminated the cluttered back wall, framed by silhouetted black pipes. In the middle of the room, stood the second scariest thing known to the Space Pirates.

"He destroyed them all, didn't he?"

Curly nodded and sighed, desperate for something to say that might lessen the blow. "I don't understand anymore, sir... ...what happened to us? Pirates, I mean.. Samus shows up, and now we've got our hands on our asses, jumpin in the air and screaming like little girls..."

The silhouetted dragon spoke nor moved for several seconds. Then, his wings flared and he lept off his platform. "Curly...", Ridley began, "Samus is not a federation mook. She is not a man... she's not even a woman, really. She's a warrior, plain and simple. A warrior that just happens to have the most dangerous motivation of all: love..." Ridley began walking out of the room, Curly following him. Ridley was not angry, actually. In fact, he looked somewhat philosophical.

"Do you know what that is, Curly? Love, I mean..."

Curly nodded. "Of course I do! Who doesn't?"

Ridley shook his head. "You were born in a lab. What could you possibly know?"

Curly hung his head. "Are you gonna hit me if ask you what the point to all this is?"

Ridley considered it, for the moment, then shook his head. "Nevermind. I'll tell you some other day. Let's just get to work..."

"Right..."

===========================================

RIDLEY'S LAST STAND

Ch 1: Frontier dispute

Rusty

Max had a finger up his nose for some reason. Samus had her feet up on a table, Lana had her head propped up by one hand as she read down a list, and Kevin tapped his pen on a table.

"Uh...", Samus uttered, "Should we just start without him?"

Lana just looked at her list and sighed, bored. Kevin shrugged. "I'm sure he'll be here any minute now. I'm used to him being late..."

Everyone turned to face the door when a squeak was heard, only for their hopes to be emptied, as it was just Radd coming back from the bathroom. "Link here yet?"

Max shook his head. "Nah... you don't think he ditched, do you?"

Radd shrugged. "Don't look at me!! I didn't say anything to him..."

==========INCOMING CALL=============

"hmm?" Lana hummed, as she heard the sound from the screen. "Bring it up..."

A familiar Hylian face lit up the screen. "H-hey guys... how's it goin..."

Max grinned. "Hey! Why aren't you up here with us? You could have just taken a shuttle, not like a crashed Cessna's the end of the world..."

Link stared blankly ahead. "Ah...well... some things came up... to put it short. Anyways, thanks you guys, for agreeing to this meeting..."

Lana stared at Link kind of awkwardly. "Hey, Link are you alright? You sound... I dunno... down..."

Link nervously stared in Lana's direction. "No... nothing's wrong. Anyways, There is something I wish to disclose to this council... brace yourselves, it isn't pretty... but, uh... there's been a kidnapping."

Samus grinned, slightly. "Really!? Who?? We haven't had one of those in awhile!"

Link looked down, as if something else had his attention. "Um... It is... uh..."

Everyone waited in suspense to hear who was in trouble. Was it Zelda? The other Zelda? Some random red-headed farm girl? Was Timmy kidnapped by a mutant well?

"uh... uh..."

Then, another person stepped into the camera and grinned on the screen. As soon as his face was seen by everyone watching, their jaws collectively dropped.

"Hello everyone," Ridley chuckled. "I think I have something of yours." Kevin dropped his pen. Samus clenched a fist. Radd just watched with intrigue. The last thing anyone would have expected to happen, had. But how?

"Ahh, you need to stop talking. I'm in charge here", the dragon argued. "Besides, I was about to tell you before you so RUDELY interrupted me." Then, he pointed to Samus and Max. "You two, both of you. I want you and ONLY you two to travel to a derelict Afloraltite mining asteroid about ten clicks from here. Bring anyone else, or even think about it, Link will immediately be killed."

"ENOUGH!!" Ridley shouted as Link flew across the room. "At this rate it's a wonder you're still alive!! Pirates, take him back to the brig, immediately! Make sure he stays standing..."

Radd shook his head. "We gotta get that son of a bitch." Max nodded, and the signal cut out.

Lana looked at the rest of the group. "As you know, it is our policy not to negotiate with terrorists. However, the longer we can keep Link alive, while still quickly extracting him, the better. We know not why Ridley has done this, or what exactly his motivation is. I realize this is likely a trap but... Max, Samus, could you please go and investigate the matter?"

Max nodded and rested a palm on the back of Samus's suit. "No problem! We'll run in there, kick the dragon's ass, totally screw him up on the trap anyways, and still be back in time for Oprah. Only thing is, we need to figure out what to do with Radd..."

ch 2: the toughest decision

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIDLEY's (last stand)

Ch 2: The toughest decision

Rusty did this

The gold pillars and rich red tapestries of Altim Tower did little to put Max's mind at ease. To things as bluntly as possible, Max was pissed.

"I don't understand..." Samus mused, as the walked down the long hall to the exit. "How could Link have gotten captured by Ridley? That's the sorta thing that would happen t..." Samus caught herself before finishing that sentence.

Max turned to face her, sternly. "to a girl?"

Samus hesitantly shook her head. "T-to a Princess."

Max shook his head. "Obviously not. I recall quite a few times when even you needed my help", he spoke, though not as coldly as before. "I'll admit I don't think it is too much of a stretch for a hero to need saving every now and then, but uh..."

Max lost his focus for a moment as they walked outside. It was raining at the platform, and standing underneath the Hunter-II was Radd, already there.

"But what?" Samus chimed, hands on her armored hips. She seemed a bit... impatient. "Just what exactly are you trying to say, Max?"

Max blinked a little as his focus came back. "Oh, uh.. no, just that every once in awhile it might not be a bad idea to... you know... even it out a little. Kick some ass without me around. Heck, if I wasn't worried about Link, I'd suggest you go and do this by yourself". he said with a laugh.

A "tch" noise could be heard coming from the ship. Radd sat there, smiling behind his shades.

"What's the matter, Max? You not up to it?" he inquired, with a tone which made it difficult to tell if he was joking or trying to bring out the worst in his brother. "Or maybe you're trying to get rid of her too..."

Max, annoyed, marched underneath the craft as well. "What do you mean?"

Radd shrugged. "I'm just saying, you've been kinda tense lately. I swear, any minute now you're gonna punch me in the face...". Max stood there, strongly considering it, but ultimately stopped. He then whispered to Radd "No... now I know you just want me to for some reason. I'm not that generous to assholes. Now, get back in the ship. We're dropping you off at Light's lab for some training..."

"Aha, I don't think so..." Radd protested. "Lana said I have to stay with either you or Samus. So if I'm staying, you are too."

"It's true..." Samus said, from behind Max. "One of us needs to be supervising him, just like I did with you once."

Roughly one hour later, a decision had already been made, and Radd was accompanying the rest of Hunter-II toward a belt of cold black meteors. They looked as if perhaps they had been tinted by acid, though how this was possible in space was unknown.

An uneasy feeling twisted and tangled itself in Max's bowels like a rabid wolverine as the craft continued into this uncharted space. The black color of the belt effectively camouflaged it from prying eyes, and they were not responsive to most forms of detection. Too cold for IR, Sonar of course was useless in space... No magnetic signal...

There was only one way to see them well, and that was up close. Beams cast off of Samus's ship were sometimes the only means they had of seeing the path ahead. Black rock would blend with shadows, and quite often, the stars above would suddenly disappear, obscured by what could only be meteor, but might as well have been a rock sculpture of a black hole.

"I'm gonna die..." Radd shook, already ill from it being his first time in space. "This is a trap... it has to be a trap!!"

"Radd, shut up!"

"Come on guys!! Why else would Ridley have told you about this spot? He wants to kill us!! Samus how many missiles do you have?"

Samus spun a wheel on her cannon and checked. "about 250. why?"

"Cause that's about the best thing we can do to the guy!!"

Max shook his head. "You're the one that wanted to come. We're not taking you back now, so just shut it!! Samus... can you see the entrance?"

Samus adjusted the intensity of the beams, until the illuminated a landing site below. "...Oh no..."

Max's eyebrows flattened. "What?"

Samus pointed to the landing site. "It's outside, on the surface. There's no indoor dock. You have a spacesuit?"

Max looked through the windbreaker at the site. Sure enough, there were some blinking lights on tall poles, some alien designs marking the ground around it, and a path up to a small door on the side of what appeared to be a base built into the rock... but no dome, or other apparatus for stepping foot on it unprepared.

"Son of a bitch!!" Max screamed. "...he's laughing about this, I know. Do you still have the spare spacesuit?"

Samus nodded. "Yes, it should be in the floor compartment... ...but one of us has to stay with Radd, and only two of us can enter: Me and one other."

Max stared at Radd, thinking he knew exactly what was going through the prick's mind. "and it's gonna be you, isn't it..."

Max shook his head, disappointed. Way back, it used to be Max who would get sick from things like roller coasters and even swing sets. Now, apparently Radd had spent so much time on his ass compared to Max that the tables had turned. Max sighed, realizing there was only one option to take, and it weighed heavily on his heart. As uneasy as he had felt before, just being in this place, now he was faced with a choice, the execution of which made him feel almost as sick as Radd.

Max had to take a deep breath just to make sure that the words got out and were audible, but he tried to keep himself from hearing them, and even closed his eyes.

"Samus, go ahead by yourself." ...and it was said.

Samus, naturally, looked straight at him. Whether Radd had a reaction to the statement as well was unsure, as he was currently curled up in a corner. "Are you sure!?" she asked. "Max, I hope you've thought about this..."

Max nodded. "I have... and I really wish I could go with you... but no thanks to dickless here, I... I've... dammit..."

Samus placed her hands on Max's shoulders, and kissed his head. His eyes were still closed, up till now. "It's okay, Max", she told him. "I think I understand what you meant before, in the tower... maybe this is the right thing to do."

Samus rested her palms, still armored, on Max's waist. "What do you mean elsewhere?"

"I mean..." Max responded, "...that unless they put Link in some sorta box or suit or something, there's no way they got him in there either... heck we don't even know if there's *air* in that thing. But if he *IS* in there, and we just cross the place off..."

Samus smiled. "Then I'll go looking for him in here. You two can get to work elsewhere, okay?"

Max kept his eyes closed, as Samus embraced him. The suit was cold to his face, but he didn't notice or care. All he could feel was eminent fear that he would never see her again.

"I'm Samus Aran, remember?" She chimed, with a smile. "All I have to do is make sure Ridley doesn't slap another mine on my back and disable the suit. I'll be okay, really. You guys better get searching."

Without any more formalities, Samus jumped out of the ship, and the hatch closed. Max stared maliciously at the indisposed Radd, then turned his attention toward the door outside. Samus, helmeted and in full Varia armor, was running up toward a series of zizagging ledges, all inclining upward toward a broader ledge with a few metal gates, and the door in question. Rather than run left and right up the sloping ledges, She just jumped up to the door, shot it open, then rushed in, the blue door closing behind her, with its signature "Zzzip!" sound.

Angrily, Max entered a set of coordinates on the ship, and pressed a button. Autopilot then took himself and Radd back, delivering them from the black nightmare, and back toward Gaia.

===================================

The inside of the base was completely dark. Samus would have been unable to see were it not for the headbeams in her visor. Despite the lack of lighting, the rest of the area seemed relatively... well kept. It was as if someone merely turned off all the lights in the area. As Samus progressed through each corridor, she sought out controls for the lights and activated them. This made the trip much easier and more pleasant, but it was still unnervingly quiet.

Samus recieved no response but her own echo. Not even the sound of a pirate running, or a dragon breathing. She feared that events similar to Pegasus might repeat themselves, this time without Max's help.

...Then, suddenly, the deafening low roar of a heavy object moving through the air filled the air, followed by the shadow of some large creature suddenly hurtling past. Samus was startled, and instinctively aimed for the shadow, but did not fire... there was nothing there anymore. However, hearing the noise, like a jet engine or a large waterfall, at least confirmed that she *was* supposed to be able to hear things.

"He's here..." Samus muttered to herself. Not Link... no, that was still uncertain. But Ridley certainly was.

She located an elevator terminal and checked the panel. Only one platform was active, and it led to the floor below. Scanning the object to execute the command, Samus descended into what could best be described as a mechanical valley full of tubes on both sides. Watching over this "valley", she saw herself approaching the floor. Then, she stepped off and began scanning the contents of the biotubes, curiously.

Fish, a few new models of pirate... a micro-sized aurora unit... "huh..." Samus thought to herself. "I thought Ridley hated... braaiinn..." She lost focus when she noticed that, sitting in a tank next to it, was Ridley himself. He looked a bit younger, and would not respond to anything, from a tap to a bang. His scales were an iridescent purple, and the yellow glow of his eyes shone through his still thin eyelids.

"So..." Samus whispered, "This must be it. Clone central." She looked around, eying any signs of resistance... none. The place was empty. She could blow the whole place up, leaving only one Ridley to destroy, period... ...and nothing would stop her. No, no... she still hadn't found Link, nor did she know for sure if he was there... If she destroyed this place, there was a chance that Link would go with it... ...not to mention, she had no idea how to *do* it.

As Samus continued down the hall of tubes, she noticed several more clones of Ridley, also in stasis. While most of them were purple, one was oddly green. A rich, vibrant green, unlike any she'd seen before... ...except perhaps Judge Racklass. Racklass was a representative of the federation justice and a member of the Federal supreme court, who happened to be of the same rare dragon species as Ridley himself. He typically adorned himself with a white headdress and an amulet, not really wearing clothes otherwise, and had skin the color of turquoise. Not quite green, but about the closest thing Samus could compare this... clone... to........

..It was then that Samus noticed a bioform behind her on the field radar. She turned around, and found the pirate lord himself staring at her.

"Well, well, well..." Ridley sneered. "Long time no see..."

ch 3: in the immortal words of admiral ackbar...

Ridley's Last Stand

Ch 3: In the immortal words of Admiral Ackbar

still Rusty

Hunter-II shrank more and more as it approached Gaia, until it was a small black spec, barely visible against bright blue. On board, not a word was spoken for almost the whole hour. Max kept his face toward the window, only the back of his head visible to Radd.

"Max..." Radd quietly mumbled, "Can I... ask you a favor?" Max did not respond for almost a minute.

Radd, still hunched over, shivered and continued. "I just want you to know that I... well... I get... jealous of you... I mean look at you, and what you've got! I don't have anything anymore..."

Max spun around in the chair and looked at Radd. "I don't believe that. Radd, it's your own fault you left Nintendo. You had a good thing going there, and you quit because they wouldn't promote you? That seems a bit irrational to me."

"That's not it", Radd told him, lifting himself up off the ground, and into a chair next to Max. "The real reason... ..it's complicated. There's more than one reason really..."

"Well," Max spoke as he layed back, "We've got some time before we reach Hyrule. Talk to me. Tell me why you've been such a little bitch all this time."

Radd sighed, and started. "First of all, working for Nintendo, even something big like this, isn't as glamorous as it looks. Most of the people I worked with were bitter, and didn't really treat me with much respect, simply because I was "too young" to understand the workings of business. I wanted to prove them wrong but I was never given an opportunity..."

"So..." Max responded, "You got disillusioned with it."

"There's more," Radd told him. "I don't want to blame any of you guys for this, but... ...when I brought Samus to the board meeting, Some of the company's chairmen decided the characters might make better spokespeople than myself... I was in danger of being ousted in favor of the real thing..."

Max became aware that in a way, this was his own fault. At the same time though, it was nothing he regretted in the grand scheme. "Don't you think it would have happened eventually, if the company wasn't pissing us off? Besides, I bet Mario would love to go and represent them anyway..."

Radd nodded. "Probably. I'm sorry if sound... ...different, these days. And about Samus..."

Max shook his head. "It's better this way. She can look in the meteor, we'll check everywhere else, okay?" Max nodded to him. North Palace's platform was in view.

Within a darkly lit, but regal building, the elder Zelda could be seen lighting several candles on an altar, a crucifix hanging overhead, along with a symbol of the Triforce. As Max and Radd stepped in, the likelihood that Link was indeed missing grew stronger and stronger.

Zelda could sense Max's approach. "Hello", Zelda calmly spoke. "Link is not here... I have not seen him since he set out for the Koopahara desert, a week ago. I'm sorry..."

Max gulped. Was Link really missing all this time? "Um... Zelda... We *might* know where he is..."

Zelda turned to face Max and Radd. "If you know what has happened to Link, you must tell me, right away. His disappearance weighs on the heart of the other Zelda and I."

Radd looked at Max, who nodded. Then he cleared his throat. "We think Link might have been... kidnapped by Ridley.. but we don't know for sure..."

Zelda looked at Radd. "And why don't you go and save him?"

"Actually..." Radd nervously responded, "Samus is the only one properly equipped for Ridley's hideout. In case it is a bluff, we're looking for him here."

Zelda shook her head. "I am sorry, but I have not seen him. I am curious though, why you believe Ridley took him..."

"Well," Max shrugged, "He sent us a video message, with Link in it. I dunno though, maybe he took Dark Link or something..."

A single tear rolled down Zelda's cheek. "I sense he is indeed distressed... lost, perhaps. Where did you last see him?"

Max scratched the back of his head. "the fields of Beanbean kingdom."

Zelda sighed in relief. "Only the Mushroom Kingdom lies between here and Beanbean. There is a very good possibility that Link is there, if he is indeed on this planet. If there is anything else I could do, that might help you find him... please, tell me of it, and I will make it so..."

Max thought for a moment. "Hmm... Radd could use a- yes!! Zelda... I have with me Link's White Sword. Is there anything you could do to enhance its power?"

Zelda inspected the sheathed blade that Max presented to her. "Unsheath the sword, and I will bless the blade with a special incantation that will protect you. However, this spell will only last for one day..."

Max did as she said and unsheathed the sword before her. Zelda placed both palms on the flat of the blade and closed her eyes, chanting as the blade began to glow....

==========================================

Ridley's back hit one of the tubes, smashing the glass into a million pieces, as the rest of his body flattened against it in shock. He roared in pain as he hit, and Samus jumped toward his chest, beam cannon charged. Angrily, Ridley, brought back his palm and smacked her in the stomach. Samus fell backward, but did not fly, only rolled backward once. As she attempted to get up, Ridley planted one of his talons on her back and held her down. "What are you trying to do, bounty hunter? You know that killing me won't end anything!! Look around you!!"

Samus noted the hundreds of Ridleys in jars. There was no way she was going to fight every single one of them: she'd need an explosive powerful enough to destroy multiple Ridleys at once... but what?? Not even a power bomb could do that...

It was about this point that Ridley picked her up and started flying up to the top of the metal ravine, landing on some rafters. "It's a vicious cycle, you and I! You take out one Ridley, and another steps in, with the freshest memories! I guess, in a way... I'm immortal.

Samus wiggled loose her beam cannon and plugged Ridley in the chest with a Super Missile. The resulting blast sent them both flying town the length of the long room, but Ridley maintained his grasp on Samus. "Today, you made your biggest mistake, Ridley!!" Samus shouted. "You showed me where all the clones are at! Now I'm going to destroy all of your children!!"

[[TARGET: LOCKED]]

Samus opened a volley of Super Missiles on Ridley's chest, sending bits and parts of him flying every direction until he finally let go of her. Once she was free, she began somersaulting until green lightning surrounded her, and she sliced through Ridley's torso. As both of them hit the ground, Samus charged her plasma beam and fired point blank into Ridley's mouth. Some of Ridley, like his skull, went flying backward, while his tail flopped over itself, and his arms and legs hit a few of the tubes. At the original spot that Samus fired, though, was little more than a puddle of blood and fire. Ridley had been obliterated.

"Phew..." Samus quietly exhaled, taking off her helmet to wipe sweat from her brow. "Now, to find Link, and blow this place sky-high before..."

Samus hadn't a chance to finish that statement before she heard two sounds echo from the distance: a tube opening, and a dragon's roar.

Samus quickly put her helmet back on. "...Nevermind..."

"Don't you get it?" Ridley screamed in the distance. "We're ripe!! We're ready to strike!! You can't just finish us off with bombs at this point!! You'd need to fight every single one of us!! Which is why... hooohooohooo... which is why I've changed things up a bit...

Samus pointed her cannon in the distance, Ridley still invisible in the distant darkness. "What do you mean, "changed things up"!? What are you going to do?"

Ridley's eyes could now be seen, followed by fresh, irridescent purple scales, reflecting the light of his eyes. "Since you have so much trouble taking out just one of us... I decided "why not send a whole bunch of them after Gaia"?? Sure we might not agree on things, and it'll get confusing, but I'm sure I'll find some way to dispose of all the others... "

Samus grinned. "You're an idiot. All of you will kill each other in a mad race for power. Then what kind of backup would you have?"

Ridley shook his head. "Maybe, but they'd all agree to conquer Gaia, and exterminate all life on it first! And what are you possibly going to do about it?"

"Whatever the hell I can..." Samus gritted her teeth.

"Thought as much", Ridley mumbled. "That's why you're stuck here! Bound by duty!! Aaahahahahahaha!!!!" With that, Ridley began chasing down the hallway after Samus, who was too tired to risk another fight with him so soon. She shot open a door and immediately ran down the hallway, Ridley still in hot pursuit.

"I have to find a way to avoid all these Ridleys!!"

ch 4: hey guys samus could use some help

Ridley's Last Stand

Ch 4: Hey guys Samus could really use some help

(Rusty thinks so anyways)

Samus was leaving trails. Afterimages.

Her speed booster kept her well ahead of Ridley, but she could still hear his maniacal laughter behind her. This was definitely not the most balanced body of his. He was smashing consoles left and right as he chased after her. It was Samus's only real way of knowing that he was still behind her.

"I need to lose this guy, and fast..." She thought to herself, stopping for a moment to catch her breath.

...that's when she spotted it. a small ventilation duct in the wall next to her. Quickly, she rolled into a ball and planted a bomb next to it. The blast lit up the dim corridor and sent some metal chunks flying, but when the dust settled, Samus was already gone.

"I can't see you... but I know you're around here!!!" Ridley violently cursed, as more equipment got shoved aside and destroyed above her... ...then, silence. Ridley was gone. Samus would sigh if it were physically possible, as a ball. Before deciding to continue through the ventilation, she rested for several minutes, eventually dozing off for a little bit.

==============================================================

Rain spattered against the hanging blocks, as the wind caused grass to dance in long patterns across the fields of Grass Land. Lightning flashed rapidly, and it was clear that a thunderstorm was eminent: all the more reason to find Link.

"Who are we kidding, we'll never find him like this!!" Radd shook his head. "it'd take some manner of Deus Ex Machina for that to happen, and this story has already exhausted enough of that..." Max stared at him oddly for several seconds, shrugged, and went back to work.

"Well, as long as it is the two of us..." Max responded, "Maybe it won't be so bad." Max brought up a topographical map of the area between beanbean kingdom and Hyrule Castle: The exact highway. "...okay...", Max told his brother, "I've got an idea... let's hit up as many of these towns along the way as we can... okay? Meet back at the ship when you're done, got it?"

Radd nodded at his brother, as they started launching forward. The first town they stopped at looked positively empty in the rain, as the little mushrooms all packed up indoors. Nobody had seen the elven hero, but they all knew who to call and what to do, should he turn up. As Max's inquiries returned frowns and apologies, Radd's turned up shrugs and shaking heads. There was no telling what condition Link was even in, although it was a miracle he and Max survived having the little plane shot down in the first place.

Outside of the towns, the two brothers got about the same response from random Goombas and Pirahna Plants. Nobody recalled seeing Link wander through. During a lull in the rain, Max and Radd planted their craft next to a lake and sat down on a nearby row of bricks floating in the air, their legs dangling off the end.

"Tell you what, Radd, I'm starting to wonder if we should call Beanbean airport, see if he ever even showed up there."

Radd looked at Max. "Why didn't you?"

"Well..." Max sighed, "I didn't think about it really. I mean we went straight to Zelda and she said check here..."

Radd shook his head. "Well don't you think it would have been a good idea?"

"What's this?" Radd shot in. "You.. you think I want to argue with you? Is that it? Max, if you're gonna be the Game Master around here, you gotta step it up!! Show some more competence. I know Samus helped you out with a lot of that, so why don't you let me try? That's all I'm trying to say."

"I DON'T NE-OOOOWWWWWW!!!"

As Max shot up out of his seat, a block suddenly appeared as if from thin air, made visible by contact with his head. As Max clutched his head, a square-wave sound effect of a vine growing could be heard coming from inside the box. half a second later, Radd watched in laughter as the top of the box flew off and a vine started rapidly sprouting upwards, poking through the overcast skies and into the heavens.

"Good goin, Max!! You found a vine to Coin Heaven!"

Max blinked and looked up. "I... I did!! I uh... I know we should be lookin for Link, but... who knows? Maybe he's up there?"

Radd smiled and gestured for Max to go first. "After you."

Max shrugged with a grin and started climbing up ahead of his brother. When they reached the top, a sea of overcast spread out before them, blue skies all above them. "You know..." Max called, "There was a time when this would have been amazing to me... but after flying so much..."

Radd worked his way up next to Max and nodded. "How do we know what we can and can't stand on?"

Max put his hand to his chin in deep thought. "That's a very good question... uh... Radd, lemme see your jacket, can I?"

Radd shrugged and took off his black leather jacket. Max took the jacket and started flapping it up and down in front of him like a big wing. Clouds blew away in its path, revealing both the air itself, and a few platforms of bricks floating at their feet. "Perfect! Thanks Radd", Max grinned, and started running forward, blowing more clouds away. Radd looked on and smiled. "huh. not bad, Max..."

As the two brothers ventured across the clouds, they faced peril in the form of fire chomps, chain chomps that floated through the air, followed by a chain of fire. They would spit fire at our heroes, and occasionally self-destruct. They ceased to be a problem once Max loaded his zapper with the wave core. The fire chomps would simple lose their fire, and fall out of the sky. Nodding in approval, Max hopped the next platform, brother close behind, as they climbed one last vine, into the heavens...

"Just think...", Max called out to Radd below him, "If we were in the Hunter-II the whole time, we might never have noticed this whole area! It's so thin, it'd just disappear into the clouds..."

"Yeah," Radd called, "But you think next time we can avoid risking our lives with all this?"

"What's the matter," Max smirked. "Y'afraid of heights? Just a little further, Radd!"

Max continued his ascent on the vine, blasting beezos and swatting at giant insects. When he got to the top, he was amazed to find... ...a giant nest floating in the air, with a whole bunch of eggs, and one thing that was definitely not an egg. Excitedly, Max stumbled over a few eggs toward the unconscious figure and tried to shake him awake.

It didn't take a whole lot to stir Link. "h-huh?? oh... hi Max... fancy meeting you here", he said with a smile. Max shook his head at Link and held him for a moment.

"Link, I never should have left you to go by yourself... I'm sorry..."

Radd shook his head at the both of them. "Gaaaaaaaaaayyy..."

Max groaned, and let go of Link. "Hey man, can you walk? We gotta get out of here." Link nodded, and stumbled to his feet.. he moved with all the grace of a drunken sailor, but it would have to do if they were gonna get him out of there. Max pulled a small board out of his pocket and summoned Hunter-II to home in on it... but it had barely broken the clouds when a horrible screech echoed as if off the clouds themselves and droned through the air.

"W-what's that!?", Radd nervously asked.

"Mama wants her dinner back", Max grumbled.

ch 5: Oh here he is

Ridley's Last Stand

Ch. 5: Oh here he is

Rusty

A giant bird flapped its way toward Max, Radd, and Link, screeching and bearing its talons. It bore a colorful crest on its head, red surrounding its eyes, and its hooked beak opened widely to snap at them. Link was almost blown off the platform by the massive gusts the wings created.

"GYYAYAYAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!!" Link's eyes went wide as he saw the sky below him, and a gorgeous but terrifying view of the ground below. Max grabbed his wrist and pulled him back up to safety in the nest. The three of them shuffled around the circular nest, trying to avoid the huge bird, hiding behind her eggs and splitting up. Sometimes Max and Link would be on one side, Radd the other. Radd would occasionally call attention away from Max while Max tried to summon Hunter-II immediately.

"Hey Max!!" Link shouted, "Dontcha think we could take this bird? I mean sure its bigger than us but since when's that ever stopped me? :D"

Max dragged Link out of the way of the bird as it dive-bombed them. "Normally...", Max shouted, "I'd take you up on that!!" Max hit the floor of the nest just as the bird swooped over. Radd was climbing on the bird's back. "But this bird's just pissed. Besides, who's gonna take care of the babies? You?"

Max looked over a ways and his jaw dropped in horror: Radd had fallen off the bird's back. "Dammit!! Where is that ship!? No time to wait around... Link, we need to jump!!"

Link looked at Max with concern "But Max, we don't even have Paraachhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttteeeeesss!!!!"

It was too late: Max had dragged Link off the nest and they were now in freefall!

Max said nothing, holding onto Link as the two of the tilted toward Radd. "Radd!!" Max finally shouted. "Get over here!!"

Radd nodded and soared toward Max. "What do we do next?? Try and land inside of Hunter-II while its going at just the right speed so we don't splat inside it?"

Max nodded. "Yeah... " ...then, he looked at Radd confused. "Wait what do you mean just the right speed?" Radd looked at Max in horror. Then Max looked at Radd in horror. Then both of them looked at Link in horror. Then, all three of them started screaming while holding each other in the long drop.

"Maaaxxx!!! I thought you knew what you were doooiiinnnggg!!!!"

"Yeah!!!", Max shouted. "Meee toooooooo!!!"

As they began to near a passing cloud, a golden craft pierced it in ascent.

From the open door of the Hunter-II, a massive gust of energy burst forward, engulfing the three of them. As it hit, they quickly slowed down and their kinetic energy dissipated outward, parting the clouds around them. Then, they fell into the hatch, on top of each other. Immediately, the hatch closed and the craft took off.

All was quiet inside the ship for several seconds, until Rad gently hummed the silence theme from the original Metroid. "Beeep... beeeep... beeeep... beeeep...."

Link joined in with the background noise. "rutabaga rutabaga... rutabaga rutabaga... rutabaga rutabaga..."

Max shook his head. "First I got some questions for you. Like what you were doing up in that nest? You know there's been a kidnapping alert put out for you!!??"

Link's eyes widened. "There was?"

"WHY DID YOU CALL US OR SOMETHING!?"

Link slinked back a little. "Gee, I... I didn't think it'd be that big a deal... I used to go off on quests like that all the time, nobody got upset..."

"Link its not totally your fault", Radd mentioned. "We got a transmission where you told us you'd been kidnapped by Ridley, so we wanted to check, and.. here you are safe and sound... well, almost bird food, but relatively safe and sound..."

Max nodded. "...which means we gotta go back up to that black meteor and find Samus...", he said, eyeing the ship's console. "...eh?"

Something was on the console that he'd never seen before. It was an icon shaped like an envelope. "Huh, guess we've got a message... ...uh, Open message?"

A screen lit up on the dashboard with Kevin's face on it. He looked oddly stern.

"Max!! If you're piloting this ship, get back to Altim Tower immediately!!! This is an order!"

Link looked at Max with worry. "Ooooohh... they sound pissed."

Max stared awkwardly. "What for? What did we do?"

Link shrugged. "Better get back there anyway and find out, you know?" Max nodded, and the craft took off into the horizon.

===========================================================

...

...

...Samus woke up.

She was still in her ball form, but her consciousness had come back about. She studied her immediate senses. Still in the duct, all was quiet, aside from a gentle hum. Assumedly, Ridley had no idea where she was, and perhaps it would stay that way, for as long as she could remain in them.

Unfortunately, she could not call for help while she was a ball, as her suit had essentially fused itself into a completely different shape. It was programmed to restore completely, back and forth between two forms, and the distress call was a component of the suit form's circuitry.

What to do? Find a nice room to roll into, turn to normal, and try letting out a call? Or play it safe until Max arrived on the scene, and they'd figure out what to do with the clones together? Samus knew she couldn't take another fight with Ridley, and her suit needed more time to recharge... She could run from Ridley, but she couldn't fight. She'd exhausted her missile and super missile supply, power bombs had proven in the past to be not much help against the dragon, and the beam might just bounce off. Could she muster a screw attack? Possibly?

Samus, against her better judgement, started rolling down the ventilation, into the darkness. She didn't care where she was going, as long as it was...somewhere. Somewhere confined. A part of her felt like it would be much safer in some confined space where Ridley either couldn't reach her or would be too far away to notice. Following the vents, which rumbled gently as she rolled through them, she finally located a good spot, and with the blast of a bomb, opened the hatch and rolled out, transforming back to normal.

Sighing heavily, Samus observed the room. It was not confined at all. In fact, it looked like another cargo hold. Crate blocks the size of buildings stretched across the room, as rafters and lights hung overhead. She almost opened the panel on her cannon to call for help, when she heard voices...

"Alright, warriors, I've got some good news for you!"

Samus silently slipped behind a stack of crates and listened closer to what was being said, to a group of pirate troopers.

"I know a lot of you have been wanted to shoot at stuff for awhile now, and you've been afraid of getting your heads blasted off, right?"

"RIGHT!!!"

The Pirate commander nodded. "Well, you're a bunch of pussies if you ask me. All of you. But that's beside the point. Ridley's been getting tired of dealing with Max, AND Samus, AND all those other folks that keep us real leaders away..."

"RIGHT!!!"

The Pirate commander seemed to hate his job. "...so, once this meteor finally approaches Gaian orbit, he will be deploying all 399 of his clones down upon the planet at once.

Samus could only gasp. This is what Ridley meant. "No!!"

Everyone turned around to look at her.

"Oh.. crap... uh... uuuuhhh... ....BOO!!!" She shouted, pointing her gun at them. The Pirates let out a high shriek, and went running as fast as possible from the hunter. "hehehehe", Samus giggled to herself "That went better than I thought it would..."

...she did not notice the shadow of a dragon looming down upon her.

ch 6: fall from grace

Ridley's Last Stand

Ch 6: Fall from grace

Rusty

Bright green exhaust pumped out the back of Hunter-II as it hurtled toward altim tower, a red outline image of the tower blinking on the display map.

As Max exited the craft, guards opened the doors, looking at him with pity. "Hey man... good luck in there", one told him as he entered. This did nothing to bolster Max's self esteem as he made the longest trip to the throne room, and entered, to find Kevin and Lana.

Kevin shifted his weight to one side of his seat. "Oh, that... well, that's kind of why you're here, tiger... uh... hmm... what did you do with Samus?"

Max was confused for a moment, then realized what he was talking about. "Oh, well, numbnuts here got sick in outer space, so Samus had to go it alone. Plus, the landing pad for that meteor was outside, and we only had two spacesuits..."

Kevin continued. "Okay, but... ...where's Samus, Max?"

Max answered. "Samus told me and Radd to go and see if maybe it was a hoax, maybe Link was still on Gaia... which he was. We actually just found him..." Link poked his head up and waved, nervously.

Kevin sighed, "But *where* is Samus!?"

Max threw his hands up. "She's still there at the meteor! She's the only one equipped for it, and while we were looking down here, she was looking up there! We were about to go get her when we got your message..."

Kevin nodded, uncomfortably. "...I see... CORPORAL!"

A soldier dressed entirely in white, with gold pins and badges approached. "Sir!"

"Samus Aran is still at the coordinates we received. Take your best men, biggest guns, and find her. Bring her back. Take care not to encounter Ridley, but IF YOU DO, you are *not* to engage unless absolutely necessary. That is an order!"

The soldier nodded with urgency, and quickly left the room. Kevin watched, and sighed with worry. "Alright... so you guys found Link at the least... that's good.", then Kevin looked right at the elf. "Don't go anywhere."

Link shrugged. "We're not in trouble are we?" Max brought his palm to his face, wishing Link hadn't asked.

Kevin brought his hands together, locking the fingers. "You left Samus up there with over 300 clones of Ridley. At what point, Max, did this seem like a good idea?"

Max stuttered. "M-me!? I didn't have a choice! Like I said, the entrance was outside, only one extra suit, and Radd was throwin up!"

Radd nodded. "It was Max who insisted Samus go on alone. Then he took me and we went looking for Link, but we didn't ask about him at Beanbean airport, noooOOOOOOoooo. We went to Hyrule Castle, which of course we wasn't at, then we went looking in the Mushroom Kingdom, where Max took us up in the clouds without so much as a trampoline, or a parachute, or a small glass of water to land in..."

"Hey!! None of this would have happened if you hadn't insisted on getting in my way!!"

Lana shut them up. "As I recall, it was me who ordered your evaluation by Radd..."

...

Max stopped, and all fell silent as he turned to Lana. "You... ...what!?"

Lana continued. "Radd had taken such an interest in your practice, I decided to have him tag along and evaluate you. Of course I couldn't have Samus doing this, since she's technically not your supervisor anymore, but after Mario told us about an engaging conversation he had with Radd..."

"What conversation?"

"Radd would like to unite Gaia and Earth and stop the feuding, particularly with the Nintendo company. Naturally, we'd be thrilled to stop *any* war with such ease, so we decided to employ him as a sort of "Junior game master", until we determined he was ready to represent us..."

"That's not right!!!" Max shouted.

"Maxwell Patrick Walker, you are protesting against an end to a war!!"

Radd grinned and shrugged. "I have no idea what he's talking about, your majesty. While I'm sure Max has done a great job in the past, as soon as the possibility of a rival enters the scene, he is completely unfit to operate, and, well... don't worry Max..."

Max gritted his teeth, his heart was racing, and blood crawled through every square inch of his body.

"...I'm sure Samus will be perfectly safe with me."

...And then, Max snapped. He jerked forward, and slammed his fist into Radd's face as hard as he could, breaking Radd's sunglasses and nose. "MOTHER FUCKER!!! GET OUT OF THIS TOWER!!! YOU LIE TO ME, PRETENDING TO BE MY FRIEND, MY BROTHER... YOU'RE JUST A CONNIVING ASSHOLE TRYING TO WORM YOUR WAY UP!!!"

Lana stood up immediately. "Maxwell Walker, stand down now!!"

Max looked right at Lana, while holding Radd in a headlock. "Lana, listen to me!! You can't let Radd take over!! He doesn't care about peace, he just-"

"SHE SAID STAND DOWN!!!" , and with that, Kevin pointed his zapper at Max. The room fell silent. Shaking, Max slowly let go of Radd, his hands in the air, backing off. After several awkward seconds...

"...uhh, can I be excused to go to the bathroom?"

Kevin looked over at Link. "Yeah. Get out of here Link."

Link nodded and ran off. Max and Radd remained.

Worriedly, Max mumbled something. "What are you going to do to me?"

Kevin's lips parted momentarily at this response. It wasn't a taunt, so much as honest concern. Max was aware of just how much trouble he was in now, and when the words reached Kevin's ears, he didn't really know how to react.

Lana sat back down, and ordered Radd out of the room. Before leaving, Radd made a snide gesture toward Max.

"Max..." Lana began, "...I don't know what you have turned into. You used to be... you used to be like this... knight, that the whole court admired. Then... your trip to Earth... it's not just Radd... something about it changed you..."

Max looked up. "L-lana... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lose it like that... I just... it wasn't... my home... and now... ...I don't know where home is anymore..."

Kevin nodded. "We'll discuss the full conditions of your punishment when Samus returns, Max. For now, just... let's get out of this room, huh? It smells like blood..."

------------------------------------------------------------

"We're gonna try and avoid running into Radd..."

Max, Lana, and Kevin joined up with Link again in an adjacent ballroom, where the four of them turned on a movie and had a snack. Max appreciated the patience of the queen, but felt like shit. Plus, Samus was still up there...

"Hey, Kevin... I still have the Hunter-II... shouldn't I... you know... go after her myself?"

Kevin looked to Max, and thought long and hard about how to answer. "N-no... you just stay here, Max. We'll take care of it."

Kevin nodded. "It's the evaluation, primarily... to be honest, we didn't expect you to fail at all. We *liked* the way you did things! You were one of them, not some cop in a badge... besides that, you were creative, really creative..."

Max was surprised to learn this. "You all don't think of me as some irresponsible kid?"

Kevin shook his head. "We don't. But... When you're being evaluated and you end up committing violence in the throne room... ...there's really no other way to respond to that. I'm sorry, Max... ...you can still live on the planet... we can give you that much, at least."

Max sighed, burying his head in his arms. It was over. Bowser was right. One way or another... Max was out.

"Listen...", Kevin told him, "If you want, you can take Hunter-II back to your house... we'll take Samus to be with you, ourselves..."

Max felt his heart drop as he undid his belt, and handed it, Zapper and all, to Kevin. "Are you sure there isn't some other way?"

"Max...", Kevin pleaded, "I really wish there was... because I have no damn idea who is going to replace you..."

"Can't you do it? You've done it before..."

Kevin shook his head. "No... not anymore."

"Fine... let Radd."

Kevin tilted his head. "Are you sure?"

Max shrugged. "Of course not!! But isn't he the next most qualified person?"

Kevin nodded. "I suppose so... ...listen... you should get out of here... no reason you need to have him gloating in your face, right?"

Max agreed. "right. Well...", he said, standing up, "It's been a pleasure, Kevin. I'm sorry it ended like this... Lana... you know I think you're a great person and all... so... I hope you can forgive me for all this..."

Lana butted in. "Oh, nooo, nooo... You two can hang out as much as you want!! We wouldn't take that from you."

"Oh...", Link said, scratching the back of his head. "Okay... I guess I'll be by as soon as Samus gets back, then... see you later, Max..."

Max nodded, and briskly left the tower. Coldly, he directed the craft to his house, fired up the engines... ...and sat on the floor, breaking down.

"One of these days", Max could recall Bowser saying. "One of these days..."

ch 7: kevin's solution

Ridley's Last Stand

Ch 7: Kevin's Solution

Rusty

The sun was bright in Applejack when Mega Man was taking his walk around town. In front of some woods was Tabby's house, where he and Tank could be seen discussing something or the other. "Hopefully not another argument over a shirt", Mega Man hoped... "People in this town sure are shallow... ...course, they're animals, but still..."

As the robot crossed the bridge back toward his house, he could see Hunter-II descending, slowly. "Ah", he thought, "That would be Max and Samus Aran! Good to see them home..." Cheerfully, the robot approached the house, and the craft, waiting for the door to open, and its occupants to emerge...

...but nobody did.

"Hmm, that's odd...", Mega Man spoke. "Samus? Are you in there? Maaaxx??" No response. Nodding, Megaman attempted an override of the lock on the hatch, only to find that the hatch was actually unlocked the entire time. "That's very odd", he said to himself, "Samus wouldn't normally do that..."

Mega Man jumped into the craft, his boots making a d-dink! sound. Max's head was turned away, but he instantly knew who entered. "Oh...", he said, looking like he just woke up. "Hey, Rock..."

"Hey, Max!!" Rock chirped. "Where's Samus at?"

Max sighed and shook his head, burying it in his arms. "Doing hero stuff..."

Rock's expression faded. "...and you appear not to be... I think we should go inside the house..."

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh, Max...", Mega Man spoke, holding Max's head like a child. "Max, I'm so sorry to hear that..." Max would have said something about this awkward situation if he even cared.

"Well," Max sighed, "They're sending a party up to go and find her... I still have to explain what happened to her, though... she'll never forgive me... will she, Rock?"

Megaman shook his head. "I don't know about that. She's not exactly been... straight... herself. Take into consideration that the Galactic Federation considers her a criminal. What does the house of Altim Tower consider you?"

"Me?", Max blinked. "I dunno... an old friend?"

"Yeah... that sounds a lot worse. Listen, Max... tell you what... I'm gonna bake you something, just cause it looks like you need it. When Samus finds out... ...I'll do whatever I can to help, okay?"

Samus was on the ground, pained, suitless, and amidst several dead soldiers in bloodstained white clothes. Ridley dominantly gloated in front of the camera.

"Lookie who I got!! And lookie what she's not wearing!!"

"I don't understand...", Lana spoke. "How did you get her out of her suit?"

Ridley rolled his eyes and smiled like Link. "Oh, well... you know... I had a few friends help me." On cue, an exact duplicate of Ridley walked in front of the camera and waved.

"Hiya"

...followed by a few more. some were purple, some were black... others were brown.

"Hey is this thing on?"

"Looks like we're on TV!!"

"You all look so much smaller on a screen!"

...Needless to say, even Radd was a bit concerned when several Ridleys began swarming around Samus Aran.

"My god...", Kevin hammed.

"Oh, you like this?", Ridley sneered. "There won't be many spares left after my plan is carried out... ...actually, there won't be any spares left at all... but that's okay, because as soon as we take back Gaia, we'll get back to cooking up our own extra lives..."

Ridley grinned, and started laughing. "Oh my god!! Are you related to Max!? hahahahahaha... Man, where is he?? He still owes me for blowing me open waaay back..."

Radd stopped laughing. "Hey, shut up!! I could do that too, you know..."

Ridley sighed and waved him off. "Sure you could, kid. Now listen up, all of you. This meteor will be floating into the orbit of your little blue planet in the next few hours... If you ever want to see your bounty hunter alive, you must surrender unto me the house of Altim Tower, and all the power that you possess... ...also... one other thing..."

Kevin blinked. "My... my gun?" Looking down, Kevin saw the familiar orange zapper sitting in a holster. loaded into this one's core was a "D" beam, capable of completely disintegrating targets from existence, turning them into white light, which vanished just as quickly.

All was silent in the room, while Kevin fiddled with his zapper, mumbling obscenities.

"Kevin?" Lana asked. "What are you doing?"

Kevin grumbled. "Fucking cocksuck kills all my men, and wants the D beam? He can have it..." he spoke, removing said core from his zapper. "I've got an idea here that might just get rid of him forever...

"Alright", Kevin began, gesturing toward an image of Samus Aran and her power suit. "As we all know, Samus's suit has lost all power. Ridley has removed it from her. However, she should be able to use it again with an adequate charge of energy, such as an E-tank, or one of the federation class tanks she's been known to carry..."

"So?" Radd spoke up, "What about the other Ridley clones? How's one energy tank going to help her take them all out?"

"Glad you asked, Radd," Kevin responded. "As a Game Master, I'm sure you are well aware that when she activates the power bombs, the charge beam, and one other beam, the bombs get infused with a heavily amplified version of that beam..."

"Oh yeah", Radd remarked. "The old Power Bomb combos from Super Metroid..."

Kevin continued. "It's never been tested before, but if she were to use my D beam in this attack..."

Lana nodded. "It would likely destroy the entire meteor, without any risk of fallout on this planet."

"Precisely", Kevin noted. "The biggest problem is that we really need Samus to even figure out the rest of this, including how much time we're going to have until that power bomb explodes... ..and it doesn't look like the platoon is coming back..."

"So? Who's going?" Lana inquired.

Kevin sighed, and looked at his gun. ".... ...I'll go. It's the only way."

"Ooooohh... then take Link with you at the least... ...wherever he is..."

Kevin looked around. Sure enough, Link had gone missing again.

"....son of a bitch!!"

Radd offered to go instead, but Kevin insisted he stay. With a sigh, Kevin grabbed his stuff, kissed Lana, and assured her he would return. Then, with that, he was off to the hangar.

"Good luck, Kevin..."

======================================================

Max, depressed, sat at the couch, eating brownies and watching TV. "Max...", Megaman told him, "I know you're upset, but surely there's something better you can do than sit around just watching the world fall apart around you!"

Max nodded, and grumbled. "But there is nothing I can do. I mean, what? I'm not Captain N anymore..."

Megaman shrugged. "Not officially..."

Max repeated his words. "Not officially, but for all I know, I could get busted for *trying* to be Captain N! All I can do now is watch everything unfold from right here..."

Megaman left the room, shaking his head. Frustrated, Max rapidly flipped through channels on his television, until the signal went out, and all he could get was fuzz. "Hey!!" Max screamed. "Rock, have you been messing with the cable again?"

Soon, the picture came back, crystal clear even... but the faces Max saw on it were not of Lakitu Brown and Paul Piranha. They were of Samus Aran and Ridley.

"Yeah, well anyway, I tried to reach you over at the tower but apparently you're out sick or something. So I'm just gonna inform you right now, Samus came over here to my meteor, when I explicitly asked for both of you. Now, I know I kind of lied about Link..."

"this is your fault too...", Max grumbled.

"...but Samus didn't do so hot around about 300 Ridleys at once! Neither did any of those guys they sent to save her!! So, here's a proposition: One last fight: You and me together. No Magus, no bullshit, no nothing. One last chance to save your petty girlfriend and get out of here before I turn Gaia into the next Zebes! ...If you've got the balls. Ta-ta!!"

...And with that, the image returned to that of the News.

"Oh god...", Max spoke, shaking his head in doubt. "What am I going to do?? What am I going to do? I can't go up there after her!! I mean, how am I gonna take him on without a zapper?"

"Well," Megaman shrugged, "Let's look at it: You've got a ship, you've got a space suit... You've got the bare minimum for getting her out at the least. Even if you can't fight him... you could still save the girl. What else have you got to lose?"

Max stared at the TV screen. All over the news was reports of the strange black meteor being seen in the sky, coming closer and closer. Nobody knew what it was, and Altim wasn't gonna broadcast it to all these happy people just yet.

...and with that, Max stepped out the door, and back into Hunter-II, completely unarmed.

ch 8: game over pt 1

The Conclusion to the saga of The New Captain N begins(?)

Ridley's Last Stand

Ch 8: Game Over (pt 1)

Rusty

Kevin's white box zipped away, toward the black meteor, now floating high within the atmosphere. There wasn't much time left before Ridley unleashed a true nightmare upon the world, and the most that Altim Court could do right now was to keep the planet's population from panicking, as the threat of an army of Ridleys, all armed with D-beam breath, wiping the planet of life, grew closer and closer.

Radd shook his head, feeling as though he bore a great burden. "What if Kevin fails?"

Lana shook her head and paced about, nervously. "He won't. He mustn't... but... his only saving grace right now is his D-beam... I don't know how much power his zapper has..."

"...Then don't you think the next most rational step is to evacuate the planet? Why take that kind of gambit with trillions of lives? It... it sounds like something... Max would do..." Radd trailed off, contemplating the logic of the people around him.

Lana shook her head. "I do not. But... I don't know what to do anymore... I must maintain order, but... I must ensure their safety as well... Radd, as ambitious and... manipulative as you are..."

"...yes?"

Lana closed her eyes and sighed. "For your own sake, never end up with my job."

Radd agreed, "Under one condition..."

Lana looked up, distraught. "...name it..."

Radd pointed to the surface. " Tell them what's going on. Order can be restored. Life cannot."

Lana let Radd's words soak in. When the moment called for it, he could be quite wise. It didn't take long for Lana to see his point, and agree with him. "Follow me," she spoke, walking behind her throne. "I'm going to need your help, pushing this throne forward. You think you can do it?"

Radd nodded, and they pushed on the count of three. The vibration of the chair against the ground traveled through their hands and arms, as the throne moved forward. Finally, they stopped and eyed the hatch below them. Lana immediately opened the hatch and started descending the metal ladder bolted to the inner wall. "Get in", she ordered Radd, and he followed.

"We can not possibly evacuate the entire population of a planet with just our own resources", Lana said, once they were at the bottom. She pressed a button, and soft cobalt light began to dot several of the machines, bathing the room in blacks and blues. "Though I wish not to... ...we must call for help, before we can even declare an emergency to the public."

Reluctantly, Lana donned the headset sitting on the desk. After she input the frequency, she waited a few moments for the connection request to dial through, and then spoke.

"I'm sorry... is that the distance in outer space, or your global coordinates as well?"

Lana shook her head. "Either, I wanna know how fast you can get here."

"About... hang on... ...5.49 hours. Why?"

"Okay, nevermind...", Lana responded, "send this message to all GFS vessels in the area, and to any Bounty Hunter who can receive it..."

"Okay, maam... we're ready to transmit."

Lana looked to Radd, and he nodded. Lana held the microphone to her lips.

"ATTENTION, ALL UNITS, HUNTERS, AND AFFILIATES OF THE GALACTIC FEDERATION: THIS IS A CLASS 9 EMERGENCY! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK AND MUST COMPLETELY EVACUATE OUR CIVILIANS. ANYONE WHO CAN BOARD 30 OR MORE ON THEIR VESSEL IS URGED TO REPORT TO ALTIM TOWER IMMEDIATELY! I AM GRANTING ALL NECESSARY PERMISSION TO COMPLETE THIS TASK. REPEAT, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! LANA OUT."

Radd nodded, as she closed the connection. "Only one thing left to do, now..."

Lana pulled a red switch labeled "broadcast override". All over the planet, televisions, billboard channels, radios, any communications device you can think of, cut out, to an image of Lana. As people looked on, she spoke...

Max thought for a moment, knowing the voice was familiar... ... "wait a minute... Link!? Is that you in there?"

The hatch opened, and sure enough, Link crawled out, with a fishbowl on his head. "Hiya, Max!"

Max brought a palm to his face, and grabbed Link by the shoulders, pulling him out. "Link, what the hell are you doing here!? Kevin told you to STAY at the tower!!"

"I know, I know...." Link frowned, "But I wanted to go with you. I know you're not Captain N anymore, but... ...you're the only friend I've got besides Zelda who doesn't smack me upside the head for every other thing I do..."

Max stood there, staring at him.

...

"...The uh... Other Zelda."

"Ahh..." Max responded. "But I don't get it. Did you *know* I was gonna do this?"

"Of course!" Link grinned. "Like you would seriously just crawl into a hole somewhere? Besides, you could use some support."

Max shook his head. "Look at the meteor. It's in the upper atmosphere, now. The air's too thin for you go with me, without some sorta suit or... ...why do you have a fishbowl on your head?"

Link eagerly spoke up. "Ooh!! Well... I thought maybe it might still be in outer space, so in order to breathe up there I figured I'd stick my head in this fishbowl!! That works.. right?"

Max put a palm to his brow, and shook his head. "Let's hope... I've got one spacesuit, and only one. Let's just hope we can all get off the thing before... ...eh?"

Max watched as the coms screen seemingly turned itself on.

"Attention, Planet Gaia. This is your Queen speaking. Many of you have by now noticed the large black object in orbit above the planet. Do not doubt the origins of this abomination: A Space Pirate station is preparing to invade the planet, directly above you!"

Max watched in disbelief. "What the hell is she DOING!?"

"Normally, this would not be revealed to the public, however, given the circumstances of the attack... ...I am no longer able to guarantee your safety, and I am issuing a state of emergency. Please remain calm: Galactic Federation freighters are arriving at all space stations as we speak to carry you and your loved ones as far away from the threat as possible. Again, please stay calm, and do whatever the Federation authorities ask of you. Thank you."

...and with that, the signal cut out.

"Max..." Link quietly spoke, "I've never seen Lana do that before. I can honestly say, right now... ...that I am scared."

"Listen, Link... You keep the Triforce of Courage, right? Well right now, I need your help, more than ever. Remember the time we fought our way through that pirated freighter?"

Link nodded. "I'll do it Max. I don't like it, but I'll do it. Just believe in me."

Max stared at Link. Even with the dorky smile and a fishbowl over his head, there was some infallible certainty that they would win. Only question is... how...

"Okay...", Max whispered, putting his helmet on. "We're locked into the landing pad now. Stay here until I find a way to get you ins-LINK!!!" As Max screamed, Link was already bounding out of the ship, floating toward the door. Grumbling, Max jetted out and followed after him, pounding on the door till it opened. Then, he closed the door on the other side and stared at Link, in disbelief.

A sword beam from the Master Sword flew into a pirate's skull. While the head exploded into a shower of sparks, the rest of the pirate burst into white flames. This was the power that evil could not touch. Max quickly grabbed the blaster, and the two continued forward at top speed, jumping over rails and dashing through corridors.

"Go!!!" Max shouted. "Go!! Go, go, Go!!!", as Link fired a beam at the door. Quickly, they both rushed through. The next corridor was a warehouse-type complex, which Samus had been in, not too long ago. Turning a corner, Max quickly fried the brains of a surprised pirate, just in time for a large swarm to enter the room and start shooting back. Max ducked behind the crate, waiting for a lull in the assault. The pirates stopped shooting and started running forward. Max immediately sprang up and shot one in the chest, before running out of the way as quickly as possible.

The remaining pirates left their fallen comrade on the floor as they chased after Max... but they did not get far, as Link charged in front of them, sword outstretched. Just as his blade was about to make contact with the first pirate's neck, he pulled back, screamed, and swung forward as hard as he could... taking all of their heads off in one blow.

"Yes!!" Max grinned, smugly. "That's how you do it! Come on, let's go find where Samus is, and see if that sword is any good against Ridley himself."

Link nodded excitedly, and the two of them ran up the rafters, knocking one pirate over the railing, and punching another in the face, right next to the door. Max shot at it, and ran forward, toward an elevator, leading to the observation deck, but was blindsided by a straggler pirate. Link rushed in to help Max, but before anyone could act, someone shouted "GET DOWN!!!" and a white streak shot through the air, nailing the pirate like a bolt of lightning. The pirate's body began to turn into light, then fizzle into nothing.

Max saw a spaceman in a white suit approach, and even though he couldn't see his face, he knew exactly who it was. "Kevin!?" Max shouted. "Is that you?"

The spaceman pointed an orange zapper at Max. "Yeah I'm Kevin... who the hell are you?"

"Well," Kevin spoke, "Apparently she ripped through quite a few Ridleys on the way. She actually ran out of power for her suit... I've brought with me enough power for her to get it back on, and get out of here... and something else..."

ch 9: game over pt 2

Samus expected this to be the point where she sighed in relief. "So, you got what you wanted?"

Keaton nodded. "You can go home, Samus... ...wherever that is."

Samus looked out the window, at the alien trees... she had nowhere to go. No one that would take her. Would she become a drifter, yet again? A turtle with a sweater? Was it possible that all of Max's work bringing her out into the open... ...could be undone?

"Keaton..." Samus trembled.

Keaton turned around, just about to leave his office. "Yes, Samus?"

"I-if I stay..." she mumbled, "can you fix the federation?"

Keaton looked at the floor. This organization had become such a beast in the last 30 years, that he didn't know how to approach the issues, without backlash from SOMEBODY. The further into the future they got, the more golden the past seemed.

"Fix the... federation... Samus, I don't know how..."

Samus looked at the ground. "My home was... at the house... on Gaia..."

Keaton shook his head. "You're lucky you can still go to Gaia. After what you pulled back there, I don't know how welcoming people will be to you."

Samus sighed. "Then... if you don't mind... can I at least tell you... the last part? Of all this..."

Keaton stood by the door, gathering a hat and coat. "...sure, Samus. If it'll make you feel better."

In spaceports across the planet, loudspeakers were blaring, families crowded the hallways and escalators, children were crying, people were on cellphones trying to contact loved ones... no one had ever attempted to evacuate an entire planet before, but they had come pretty close.

"You don't understand!!", one Hylian argued with security. "I need to be sat with my family!! They're just in the bathroom!!"

"Sir, we need to board immediately! We'll get them out on the next shuttle, but you need to get on this one!"

"But this one is headed for Alpha colony!! They'll be going to Gamma!"

Meanwhile, in the Mushroom Kingdom, There was a major commotion as plumbers, princesses, reptiles, and others crowded into a dark castle with a dome over it.

"Is everyone in!?" Bowser called. "I SAID, IS EVERYONE IN??"

Cyndi shouted, "DEFINE EVERYONE!?"

Bowser shrugged. "ARE THE KIDS ALL IN?"

Cyndi nodded. "YEAH. SO ARE THE MARIO BROS AND PEACH."

Bowser nodded. "Okay, Start 'er up, Lemmy!"

Lemmy Koopa ran into the basement and began hitting some levers, as the entire fortress started shaking, and slowly levitating off the ground, along with a sizeable chunk of the land around it. Kammy cast a spell, and a gigantic vortex appeared, swallowing the floating island and spitting it back out into the sky above the Pipe Maze area. Bowser's subterranean domain became empty, and eerily quiet.

"No, about the attack..." Luigi spoke, worriedly. "We may win, we may lose... ...but I sense there will be a *horrible* cost. Someone we know... ...will die today."

Mario shrugged. "Yeah, Ridley. Now let's go to the window see if we can spot the stars yet."

=====================================================================

Elsewhere, in the opposite direction, the meteor was now blocking out the sun, covering the land in darkness. Inside of it, a young girl sat behind a force field, holding her knees, and burying her face in her legs...

------------------------------------------------------

...While not far away, three men raced toward an elevator, paced in unison. Max had replaced his pirate blaster with something Kevin brought along: A Power Glove. Charging toward an elite trooper, Max lifted him over his head, with all of his weight, and threw him into a metal tank, holding an unfinished Ridley, killing both.

A heavy scythe fell toward Link, before he blocked it with the Master Sword. Kicking the trooper in the groin (do they have anything there?), he then ripped the crab open with a sword beam. His sword then found its way through the chest of a pirate immediately to his left, then slashed the stomach of one to his right. Sensing many more closing in around him, Link drew his sword back, and a crimson energy began to pulsate throughout it. At once, the pirates jumped the seemingly open Link, but- SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYAAAAAAAGH!!!!

Link let loose with a burning ring of flames as he swung the sword in a complete 360 degree circle, wiping out everything in an 8-foot radius. Max and Kevin both stopped and stared at this in awe.

"Huh", Max grinned, "I didn't know you knew the spin attack."

"Is that what they call it?" Link asked, looking at his reflection in the sword's blade. "I always just called it the whirlywind..."

Racing toward the elevator, the trio hit a panel, and lifted upwards, to the observation deck. "Oh god..." Link spoke, attempting to hold his nose but unable. "It smells like dead people... and I can't get this fishbowl off to hold my nose!!"

Kevin gritted his teeth when they saw why. "That's because it is full of dead people. It's the platoon I sent... gave their lives in vain... ...what a pity..."

Max felt queasy. It didn't help that he'd never actually been around a mass slaughter before. Sure he took out a few pirates and other assorted nasties, but all the same... seeing this many humans piled up was not something he was adequately prepared for... ...and he had to leave for the moment, covering his mouth.

"What are you talking about?" Link asked. "If we can get rid of this thing and all those clones, nothing will be in vain!"

Kevin kneeled before one body, its eyes open in sheer horror, and he gently closed them. "Rest well, soldier. Link, did you see where Max ran off to?"

Link nodded, and pulled a large gray switch on the wall. A loud commotion rang through as the shutters opened, sunlight piercing into the room and illuminating it. Though beautiful, the sight of blue skies, clouds, and land far below only served to further their horror and urgency. "...shit...", Max mumbled, as he quickly entered the other room. "SAMUS!! Samus, are you in here?? Samus, come on!!"

"Hey!!"

Max looked over at the force field directly to his right. Samus stood there, arms crossed. "You wanna get me out of here or what?"

"Yeah yeah hang on princess..." Max laughed, as he punched the blue light next to the force field with his power glove. The light turned red, and Samus was able to leave. "I'm sure you were *planning* to be caught, by the way."

"Long story...," Max mumbled. "I'm here with Kevin and Link, WHO WAS NOT ON THIS STATION."

Samus rolled her eyes. "Son of a bitch... wait, who's with Radd?"

"Lana is. again, I'll tell you when we get back. Just come with me alright? Kevin's got something for you."

As they opened the door, sunlight hit Samus's face, and she squinted, being stuck in a dark room for quite some time now. She was especially horrified to learn they were now within Gaian atmosphere, since she'd last entered in space. Link excitedly hugged her before ushering her toward Kevin.

Samus scratched the back of her head. "I-I'll try..." closing her eyes, her body began to glow. Energy began to focus all around her body, and then fuse into a hard golden metal, until she stood before them wearing her a standard, yellow power suit. "That's about all I can do right now..."

Excitedly, Samus touched the tank, and it turned to energy, flooding her suit. An orange flash filled her suit, upgrading it to Varia and Gravity modes. Lights inside of the suit and her visor all activated. She was on, again. "Well," Samus shrugged her round shoulders, "I don't think I can fight Ridley with just this, but..."

Before she could finish, Kevin placed a sphere in her palm.

"That's fine. Think you can create a power bomb combo?"

Samus tilted her head. "Yeah, but... why?" ..then, she looked at what Kevin handed her. It was the Disruptor Beam.

"Um..." Samus fumbled, "I, uh... um.. .how to say this... Kevin... I've never mixed a power bomb with a D beam before... ...this might be a very bad idea..."

"Samus", Kevin urged, "If it works, you know that it will destroy this entire meteor right?"

Samus thought out loud. "And every clone with it..."

Max brought up a point. "How do we know all the Ridley clones in existence are on this station?"

Samus shook her head. "I doubt they are... but the others are all probably dormant... they might never even be finished without Ridley's input... and even then, I'm sure I can hunt them down..."

"Alright then", Kevin impatiently concluded, "Let's do it"

Samus sighed and loaded in the D beam. "Here goes..."

Samus began drawing energy into her arm cannon, as Link, Max, and Kevin looked on. Then, still charged, she rolled into a ball, and a series of beeps could be heard. Out of nowhere, a large football-sized bomb appeared, with a timer on it: 15:00... 14:59... 14:58...

Everyone jumped down the elevator shaft, rushing like mad for the center of the ship. However, as they passed the dock ports...

"Kevin", Samus ordered, "Take Link and get out of here. Wait for us on the surface."

Kevin would have protested, but didn't want to risk it when Samus had a D-beam. "o-okay. Come on Link."

Link nodded, and followed Kevin through the doorway. "Good luck, guys!!"

"Follow me!!" Samus shouted. "We need to go down!!"

10:25...

-----------------------------------------------

LABORATORY

Samus lept into the air, screw attacking her way through several failed Ridley clones, Max running behind her, kicking them out of the way and leaping over. At the far end of the hall, they reached a control room, full of computers, mainframes, and more tubes. Tearing open a panel in the floor, Samus immediately crammed the bomb into the compartment and put the floor back. "Okay," Samus gasped...

6:15...

"Six minutes...", Max whispered. "It's tight, but I think we can make it back to the Hunter-II if we just steer clear of any Ridleys..."

"Don't jinx it Max", Samus told him. "We don't wanna waste any time with him. Now let's get to the docking bay!!!"

----------------------------------------------------

4:15...

Max and Samus rushed back toward the hangar, linking to the dock ports.

"We made it!! Let's get out of here!!"

Excitedly, Samus opened the door and started stepping in. "Max, its open!! Let's go!!!!!"

...there was no response.

"Max? Max, say so-AAHHHHHHH!!!"

Samus turned around to see that they weren't alone. Max was looking up to see, sure enough, one very angry Ridley. "Maaaaxxxx...." Ridley sneered, "I believe you still owe me a fight!"

Max smiled back at her. "If I win, I'll take Ridley's ejector. Now go! I'll see you on the surface!"

Samus wanted to say something else, but was hardly the time or place. Thus, she blew him a kiss and ran out of the dock. Max turned around and faced Ridley, eye to eye.

"Well kid", Ridley grinned, "You're all alone now. Got yer gun?"

Max gulped. "Uh... oops... funny story, that..."

"What!?" Ridley said, shocked. He was beginning to experience Deja-Vu. "You mean to tell me that we schedule an official rematch of that fight back at Parapa desert.... and you actually do have your stuff, you FORGOT TO BRING IT!? OOH, HOHOHOHOHO!!! HHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHE!!! HHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!THIS IS DELICIOUS!!!!

Max wasn't laughing at all.

"Pathetic!!", Ridley snorted, tears in his eyes. "Truly pathetic!! You are a failure as a game master, you are a failure as a man, and you a failure as a hero!! I'll truly enjoy leaving you broken and battered while I-BOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!

...Ridley sailed through the air, and into the far wall. Shaking stars out of his head, he strained through the blurred vision to see Max, slowly walking toward him, wearing a strange glove.

"...what the hell was that!?"

Max grabbed Ridley's tail, and thrust it over his shoulder. Ridley got pulled along with it, and slammed into a pillar, causing the dragon to roar in great pain as the metal structure bent and cracked his spine.

"Wait, wait!!! Give me minu-"

Max did no such thing. He jumped on top of an unprepared Ridley, and punched him in the face, several times. "NO!!" Max screamed. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!!", accenting each "NO!" With a punch. Grabbing Ridley by the collarbone, he forced air out of his own chest as he shouted.

"ENOUGH!!! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS BULLSHIT!! YOU FLY AROUND THE GALAXY TERRORIZING PEOPLE FOR NO BETTER REASON THAN "FOR THE EVULZ", YOU KILLED PARENTS AND CHILDREN ALIKE, AND WHEN YOU FIND SURVIVORS, YOU TRY AND FORCE THOSE BAD MEMORIES BACK ON THEM!!"

"N-no I didn't!! I just-"

"YOU'RE A BAD DREAM, RIDLEY!! YOU'RE A BAD DREAM, AND WE'RE ALL WAKING UP!! RIGHT NOW!!!"

"I love the power glove..." Max whispered, pumping his fist. "It's so bad..." Then, pulling his fist back, the glove began to crackle and spark. "FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLCOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNN..."

"Oh, shit..."

"PAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Max's fist penetrated Ridley's chest, once again leaving a hole in it. As Max held it there, Ridley began to explode, all over. With one final roar, the beaten, bloody mess that was Ridley began to fade into millions of chunky gibs. Then, pulling his fist back, Max stood up.

...He won. He beat Ridley.

"...wait... how much time do I have!? sssssshiiiiiiiiiiiittt!!!!"

Max started stumbling toward the ejector pod. He got in, sat down, and immediately pulled the lever. The hatch closed, and the pod disconnected from the space station...

00:10...

"Hope I can get far enough away from it... these things weren't built for speed..."

Kevin and Link stared up at the meteor, as bright white light poured out of it. soon, the meteor became as a cracking silhouette, quickly engulfed in the white light. Moments later...

...it was gone. Vanished. Destroyed.

Link and Kevin both held their breath for several seconds, staring up at the quiet sky.

"D..." Link stuttered. "D-do you think they were too late?"

"Shut up Link...", Kevin said shakily. "...look!!"

a black object began descending towards them... as it got closer, gold light reflected off of it, and exhaust could be seen.

It was the Hunter-II!!

Samus landed the ship and immediately exited, removing her helmet. Walking straight up to Kevin, she extended her free palm. Kevin took it into his own, and they shook. "Kevin Keene," Samus began, "THE OPERATION WAS COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY."

Link's smiled widened into a huge grin. "WE DID IT!!! RIDLEY IS GONE!!"

Smiling back, Samus hugged the both of them. As she did so, a white box landed, from Altim Tower. Lana and Radd stepped out of it.

Radd jumped, excitedly. "That's awesome!! Now I guess we can get back to you and Max teaching me a few things...", he said with a chuckle.

...It was at this point that Kevin and Link noticed something was missing.

"Uh... Samus..." Kevin asked, scratching his head, "Where's Max?"

Samus looked to the sky for him. "He got a little sidetracked, but he said he'd get out on Ridley's pod. I don't see it though..." Nervously, she put the helmet back on and brought up a scan.

"Scanning for lifeforms..."

"4 other lifeforms found"

Samus checked the lifeform radar, but the dots on it all belonged to... Kevin, Link, Radd, and Lana. Everyone else in the area had evacuated.

"Find Max Walker!!" Samus held her breath as the computer ran itself.

"Max Walker not found."

"Scan again!!"

"Max Walker not found."

"Okay, well try it... ...now!!"

"Max Walker not found."

"What do you mean, "Max Walker not found"!? He has to b-..." Samus trailed off, now panicking, as she looked into the sky. There was nothing but blue.

"No..." Samus whispered. "No, nononononono!!!! There must be a mistake!!"

"Don't worry, Samus!!" Link smiled. "I've seen this Disney movie a million times! At the last minute, he'll come falling out of the sky!" And so, Link watched and waited, excitedly, for several minutes. Blinking, his expression slowly curled downward. "Come on, Max...", he whispered. "Where are you?"

Samus began breathing heavily. Her suit fell apart around her, and screamed as if in great pain. Kevin and Link immediately rushed to her aid, but she appeared to be unhurt.

"I don't understand! What's wrong with her?"

Samus breathed heavily, a look of terror spread across her pale face. "I just... I just..."

"What?", everyone asked. "What is it?"

Tears began welling up in her eyes.

"I just felt Max Walker's life force.... ...extinguished."

Lana covered her mouth. "Oh no..."

Kevin grabbed her shoulder. "Please, tell me you're kidding..."

Link had tears in his eyes as well. "I... I guess he didn't make it off, when... when..."

Samus sat still for several minutes, trying to hold it back. Then, in a completely cold, monotone voice....

"Link..." she quietly whispered.

"W-what?" he whimpered...

...

Samus wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her eyes into his chest, muffling a broken, sobbing scream. Ridley was gone, but had managed to take with him, once again, that which Samus loved. She would have to promise *never* to let herself get that close to someone ever again.

Lana shook her head. "For your own sake, I strongly urge you to leave Samus alone. Now that the threat has been averted, your authority on this planet is revoked."

Damara clenched her fist. "Listen to me, Queen. Your whole planet is deserted right now! Maybe I'll break a treaty and take Samus back anyway! What will you do about that? Send your little white "peace soldiers" after me? All you have is Kevin, Link, and the criminal, versus us. I strongly, STRONGLY suggest you turn her over."

Lana stared at Kevin, distraught. "I... ...alright...", and she went to get Samus.

"Samus, sweetheart? It's Damara... she says they have to take you away now..."

Samus growled in pain as the ice shots peppered her back, but she would not let go. Damara had fallen unconscious, not from blood loss, as there hadn't been much... but some how, her very life force was being drained by Samus, in her primal rage.

Samus screamed angrily as her back quickly began to stiffen... she tried to draw more energy out of Damara, but... ...feeling... tired... can't...

Samus collapsed to the ground, unconscious, while soldiers picked the frozen body up and carried her into a freighter. "I... what was that??" Damara gasped, as a soldier wrapped her arm in gauze. "I've never seen her do that before..."

With contempt, Kevin passed by her. "You're lucky she didn't have her power suit on..." he said, as they boarded the GFS freighter. "Before we can discuss the power shift, we need to arrange a funeral. Can you at least let us do that?

Damara thought for a moment, then sighed, nodding her head. "Yeah man. I'll help you out with it." And with that, Kevin continued into the ship.

As Radd entered, Damara stopped him. "Oh, no no no, not you..."

Radd tilted his head. "Huh?"

Damara smiled. "You're coming with me, cutey..."

epilogue: in closing...

Ridley's Last Stand

Epilogue: In Closing...

By Rustedsoda

Samus awoke some time later in a plastic chamber, her head pounding, and her body unusually stiff. "I... didn't just suck energy out of Damara, like a... ...did I... ? Oh god..." every time she tried to think, her head just hurt even more. All she could process for the moment was that she had bitten Damara, and was most likely now being detained. Whatever led up to this, she was unable to think of. It was all in short-term...

"Hey, uh... Samus? How you feelin?"

Samus covered her ears. "I have a headache..."

"Yeah... sorry about that... You kinda... went Metroid on us back there."

Samus shook her head, in a "don't worry about it" gesture. "is that you Max? I thought maybe something happened to..."

"No..." The prison guard she was talking to walked into view, and opened the visor of his suit. It was Anthony Higgs.

"Remember me?" he said with a grin. Samus grinned back, momentarily.

"Heh.. if it isn't the great Anthony Higgs... I *must* be in deep shit now..."

Higgs shrugged. "Hey. Not all of us agree with what that icy fox says. Me an the boys still think kinda highly of you... but uh... yeah. You feelin okay? We all knew you were a little bit Metroid now, but..." Samus shook her head, unsure. "Listen..." Anthony continued, "Now that you're awake... there's someone that wants to talk to you, and I think you might wanna talk to him a little, too..."

Samus sat down on her bench. "In a second or two. I gotta... get my legs working again..."

Soon, Samus was being escorted, in cuffs, to the upper levels of whatever building she was in. It was the office area. Hallways, carpet... even potted plants and soft lighting. She passed several armed guards in a large room, that opened the doors and let the hunter, escorts in tow, enter a large office overlooking a view of the ocean below. "Chairman Keaton?" One guard spoke. "Samus Aran..."

Keaton's expression grew stern. "Yes... that's something we need to take care of... isn't it..." , and he reached for a phone. "Judy... patch me through to Damara's cell..."

===================================================================

Damara sat among Lana, Kevin, and Radd, a few soldiers with her, watching as representatives from the major districts of Gaia entered Altim Tower, each bearing a folded flag of their land. Radd looked on, uncertain of how to handle the situation. He felt bad for having such little reaction to Max's passing, but at the same time he had already experienced his little brother's death once, and this incarnation of Max he'd only known for a little while.

Lana hesitated before answering. "I don't know enough of what went on between you two to say for sure. However, from a personal level, I don't think you would like my answer. Its not something I can discuss right now though... not with all these people..."

"Ask again later Radd..." Kevin whispered.

Radd looked up at Damara and asked her the same question. She responded much more pleasantly. "Radd, I think with a little direction... and the right legal ties to the federation... you would make a GREAT game master to Gaia. After the funeral is over, when we take Gaia over, I will make sure you have everything you need to do your job..." she said, with a grin. Radd smiled back. "E-everything?"

Damara giggled. "yep."

Radd smiled. "Will Samus be with me?"

Damara's smiled faded. "NO."

Radd sighed and sat down. It wouldn't be the same without her...

"Too bad she couldn't be here to say goodbye to him one last time..." Kevin muttered.

Damara sighed. "Maybe you'd like her to start draining energy out of the entire congregation then?"

Kevin raised his voice. "Damara, Maxwell and Samus were lovers. Not that you'd know what that feels like."

"Kevin!!" Lana pleaded. "Let it go... she's not worth it..."

Kevin did not agree with that statement. But he wouldn't make a scene here, now... So, he calmly sat back down and the procession continue. One might not notice Mario, Luigi, Link, Rock, Pit, or others making their way through, as they were all dressed in pale whites, personalities absent. There was no body to bury, thus no coffin. There was, however, a statue crafted of Max, smiling and doing something admittedly silly, that would be positioned at the start of what Max would call World 1-1. Underneath the statue, words were inscribed:

"Let any who venture beyond this land, do so enjoying the adventure at hand. From 1-1 to 8-4, and so many more, May this planet know peace now, and avoid any war."

Maxwell Patrick Walker

1990-2010

"Did Max ever actually say that?" Radd asked.

"I don't believe so", Damara spoke. "It's just something I came up with that I think captures what he was about."

Radd scratched the back of his head. "It's... it's nice. It's a really nice thing you did for him..."

Damara sighed. "I may not like the way Lana runs things here... but I think Max had a good heart... just... misled by Samus... "

"What's your problem with her anyway?"

Damara sighed and shook her head. "Same problem I have with Lana.... I can't get inside her mind... not that it matters anymore. Samus will sit in prison, Gaia will be under our jurisdiction, and you my friend will be... The New Captain N.

"Right..." Radd mumbled. "...me."

The sun broke the clouds throughout the day, painting a dazzling, cavernous image in the sky as beams of light cascaded down cliffs of clouds and illuminated the land. the grass at that little hill was blowing back and forth, as the statue was set up by the Mario Brothers. "See you around, Max..." Mario sighed.

Pit shook his hand, and nodded. For some reason, he couldn't help but feel like the reaper in all of this. It was a sensation that bothered him until he could bear it no more, and had to leave. Nobody questioned his sudden departure, though. The plumbers even told him to do whatever he needed for his own health. When he did finally fly away, he looked back in shame for a moment, before returning to the clouds.

"Max will not be arriving here... ...and I don't know why."

Damara watched Pit fly away with annoyance. "I don't like anyone having power over me... I am *so* glad Keaton is so old..."

...that was when her phone rang. "Yeah", Damara spoke. "Who is it?"

...

"K-Sir?? Yes, it is me sir. I'm at the funeral for "their" Game Master. Ridley's entire clone supply that we know of was destroyed along with him, so I..."

...

"Yes, sir!! Gaia is ours now. No longer do we have to put up with Lana's archaic treaties."

...

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

...

"Drop it?? I can't drop it!! I just got Lana to give it up, and you want me to drop it!? But Sir!! Yes, I reali- But I-... Keato-... You can't be serious!! Can't I at lea- ... ..."

Angrily, Damara left the procession, without a word. Radd followed after her, calling out her name, as she stepped onto a GSL shuttle and screamed at the pilot to take off, even though he protested that they'd be leaving a whole squadron there.

Damara sighed. "Sorry kid. But there's still someone with more authority out there than even I have. I can't help you. Goodbye, Radd..."

...and with that, she took off.

-------------------------------------------------

Samus arrived back at Peach's castle, emotionally and mentally exhausted. People were cautious to go near her, and Samus knew it. She didn't care though... she just... needed... Peach...

"Please", she spoke, looking like she'd just been through hell. "P-peach.. is she there?"

The two little guards looked at each other and Samus. "You're not, uh... gonna suck on her head are you?"

Peach opened the door herself. "It's okay everyone... let her in..."

Over the next several hours, Samus sobbed into Peach's arms. It wasn't just Max, it was... everything. A part of her just wanted to cry because a heavy burden had finally been lifted from her, with the death of Ridley. Another part of her wanted to let out all of her frustrations with the federation. Yet, another part wanted to remember all of those lost loved ones... her parents, Virginia and Rodney Aran. Old Bird. Gray Voice. Her child, the Hatchling Metroid... ...and... Max. Poor Max...

That night, Peach and the plumbers to Samus to where the statue had been erected. Some warm comfort came from the stars above, and the lights from nearby houses.. but all Samus could do was hold the statue... run her hand across its face... ...and rest her head against its chest.

"I think the decision is unanimous...", Luigi said, completely monotone, "...that you will be living with us for quite some time, Samus. We can't let you out there on your own."

Samus just stared at the statue, exhausted. "Alright. Do whatever... I don't care anymore..."

And with that, the four of them walked away, leaving the statue there in the dark, like a bright beacon to all travelers and adventurers. The statue stood, zapper raised to the sky, the stars... toward infinity... and in a way... Max was never truly gone.

Max's mother sighed, folding shirts on a bed. "Robert, do you think any of these would fit you? I know you're not the same size as Max, but..."

"Why don't you just hang on to them?" Robert pleaded. "He might reappear some day."

Max's mother sat down for a moment... ...it was becoming too much to bear, losing a son... especially when you didn't even really know whatever became of him.

Robert couldn't believe it. Max made so much hooplah about the TV being a portal, after Madeline warned that it took her son... and true to form, so it took Max. Robert had gotten his degree now in electronics repair, but dared not go near that television. It now sat in his basement, gathering dust. At the same time though, this secret was becoming too much for Robert to bear either.

Robert felt his heart sink, as Max's mother pulled out a box, full of Max's videogames and consoles. "Robert, are you sure you don't want these? They belonged to Max, and..."

Robert stopped her. "Can you hang on to them for just a bit longer? There's... something I need to check on."

Mom just nodded, silently. As Radd hopped into his car outside, she grabbed Max's shirt and just burst into tears, holding it.

Robert arrived back at home, where he kept the infernal device. Taking a deep breath, he boldly walked down, into the basement, and pulled away a curtain walling off the TV from the rest of the place.

Robert stared at it for several seconds, blankly... then immediately started walking upstairs... his walk broke into a run, and his breath grew heavy. Immediately, he called Mrs Walker.

"Mrs. Walker??? Are you there?" Robert nearly screamed. "It's Robert. Get over here, right away!!!"

There was a body in front of the old TV.

It was wearing black sneakers, Jeans, and had on a T-shirt of an NES controller.